Chicago, Chicago....

So that's where I've been since last Thursday! I left work at lunchtime, and hopped a cab to the airport. Two flights and seven hours later, I was driving up North Michigan Avenue in search of the famed Red Apple Buffet. (Sorry, the website SUCKS, but the restaurant is great! Food was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.)

Friday, we puttered around the house a bit, went to pick up his son, hit the cell phone store (Rob's hard on phones LOL), hit Fiddlehead Yarns in Kenosha, WI, and then bought a ridiculous amount of groceries. I cook a lot when I go over to fill the freezer so that the boys don't end up living on manwich. Friday evening, we went to Passover Seder at Rob's parents. It was... an experience :D Rob's stepfather Alan began the evening by stating that THIS YEAR, we were going to have a serious, PROPER Passover.... and you can imagine how things went from there ;) The boys (both the adult and the teenaged ones) seemed to take that as a challenge. The verdict: Matzo ball soup = AWESOME. Gefilte fish = edible, but ... um... well, it's fish brined in lye. What do you expect me to say?

Saturday, I started the day by making a huge batch of spaghetti sauce (which is now residing in the aforementioned freezer). We went out to lunch with Rob's genealogy group harem (he has a group of women who follow him around and vice versa... they're all older than his mother, but I still like to tease him!). They are the funniest, coolest bunch of girls, and we had a blast. Saturday afternoon, we went to the cemetery where Rob's father is buried and I took pictures of the grave site for his genealogy files, and placed a stone on his father's  marker. I was glad I'd gotten dressed for Seder before leaving, because it felt somehow more fitting that I was visiting in a dress, nylons and heels. We went to Seder with Rob's step-sister and her family and it was every bit as much an occasion as the previous night :) This group takes family seriously, and they really are a fantastic bunch of people. (I had gotten yelled at the night before for trying to blow out the candles after everyone left the table.. this Seder? no candles! SWEET! No one confusing the shiksa!)

Sunday morning, I made a cheesecake for dinner and a batch of chili that joined the spaghetti sauce in the freezer. Rob and I walked to the grocery store (about a mile, round trip, I think) to buy a bottle of pop (what can I say? I was thirsty!). Sunday afternoon was mostly spent doing house-type stuff, shopping for new towels and then making my seafood rosée pasta sauce (most of which is also in the freezer, but some of which was dinner). The lemon sauce I made for the cheesecake ended up wayyyy too sweet (like jarringly sweet), and I've determined that I need to stop using the Philly cheesecake recipe and find a proper one. Other than that, we had a good time :) We planted some flowers around the house and garage (hopefully some of them will come up!) and watched an episode of Speed Racer and then it was time to pack and go to bed.

4am this morning, we were (Rob was) up and getting ready to head to the airport. I slept very badly last night, so he went and showered, shaved, ate breakfast and THEN woke me up. I win :) Two flights later, I was back home with the kids and attention-seeking cats. The strike is still on at school, so no class for the third week in a row. This worries me, because NEXT week is our final exam, and we haven't covered a lot of the material necessary :( There's also our final project due next week, and I'm nowhere near done. *sigh* I am home, and while I'm happy to be back, I'm not happy to be alone. Pictures will follow after I've got them off the cameras and sorted out. So see you later, Chicago!

Murphy's Law

Today did not start out in the best way. It started with me curled into the fetal position in an incredible amount of pain. That continued for several hours (until after lunch) and made me want to drive off the nearest cliff. Fortunately for me, there's a distinct shortage of cliffs between my home and office. I have no idea why cramps make me want to die in the morning but always seem to disappear in the afternoon.

Work was largely uneventful, until my supervisor set me to a task (telling me it was super urgent) and then disappeared before I was done. I can understand not feeling well and leaving early... what I can't understand is not saying anything when I spoke to her TWO MINUTES before she left. Granted, that's not about me, but I've had a shit day, so I'm internalizing it. The urgent document? Is now sitting locked up in my file cabinet, so what was the point of rushing?

Picked up my daughter at daycare (where apparently the stomach flu had ripped through the place all day and nobody said anything to me) and then went to pick up the ex to do groceries. Got to his house and phoned him to come down, but he was still 15 minutes away on the bus, and we ended up having a huge fight (mostly my fault, but not entirely). Joy. The store was out of mint Aero (Rob and his son really like those) but I figure the Cherry Blossoms and maple candy will likely make up for that one.

Classes were cancelled again this week due to the strike. *sigh* I need to contact my prof to make sure I can still pass the class. Bought myself some sushi for dinner, but as I sat down to eat it, the bottle of sparkling water I'd bought overflowed and I managed to drop the tray of sushi trying to contain the mess/protect my laptop. Sushi all over the carpet. So no dinner for me. That, and soda water all over the laptop. (That seems to have been remedied nicely though).

I have a HUGE surprise for Rob, and I really really really want to spill the beans (I suck at delayed gratification) but I know it will be so much more of an awesome surprise if I DON'T tell him, but I really want to! I also managed to kill most of my cilantro and three of my four tomato babies by underwatering them :( I have one viable specimen of each left. I may buy a tomato plant or two when the nurseries start carrying them. Hopefully Jeff's cats will be able to resist eating everything while he's plant-sitting (they need to be watered daily or they dry out, so I can't leave them for four days).

All first-world problems, to be sure. But the cumulative effect made the day suck. Then I poke around on a news site, and I discover that my day would have sucked ever so much more if I lived in Dallas County, Texas. And I am ever so thankful that I live here and that I am fortunate to have only first world problems.

Word play...

I feel like such a dunce! The first Harry Potter movie came out eleven years ago. I never read the books before that, so that was my first introduction to the series. It has taken me THIS LONG to sort out that Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley were plays on nocturnally and diagonally.... Now let that sink in.

Jo Rowling is brilliant.

Short and sweet...

That's what this entry is going to be, because I managed a whole hour at the gym tonight and my arms are SORE.

Monday, I went to the gym after work, and I wasn't feeling too hot... Or rather, I *was* feeling too hot. I was sweating like a pig on the recumbent bike, and couldn't finish the 15 minutes (I quit after 12 1/2) because I felt really nauseous. Hit a couple of weight machines, and felt even worse, so I quit while I was ahead. Class was cancelled, so I went home. Tuesday, I went for groceries after work, still not feeling too hot. Had a steak for dinner, and it sat there in my stomach, all night. It was still there when I went to work the next morning. Oh joy. Hernia flare-up.

I have a hiatus hernia. My stomach sometimes slips up between my diaphragm and my chest wall (I think... it could be other organs) and gets trapped, so food has nowhere to go and can't be digested. After a few hours of this, stomach decides it's going to reject whatever hasn't been digested, so it was a fun night. Wednesday was the farewell party for my boss/coworker (he's not really my boss, but he kind of is in my mind) who's going back to Halifax so his wife won't COMPLETELY forget what he looks like. I will miss him very much :( I made him a sash that said "Mister T.S.I. 2012" and a photo collage from all of us:

He *loved* it :) (If you click on it to make it bigger, the guy in the Freddie Mercury poster is the one who's leaving - the guy on the right, that is LOL) We passed the mat around the office and had everyone sign it :) The party was a blast, and I decided that since it was such a special occasion, that a drink wouldn't kill me, so I had a half-pint of some very lovely and mellow cider (and I can't remember the name of it!). UGH. Big mistake. I felt sick ALL night and not too hot this morning either. My stomach seems to be trying to tell me something, so tomorrow we're going to go on a bit of a cleanse, I think.

My family is going to the sugar bush on Saturday, but I'm working at 10, so my mom asked me to drive them to her house... IN ORLEANS. The sugar bush is in QUEBEC. Everybody who's going practically has to pass right by my house to get there. *sigh* (but then, the kids wouldn't be at my house, they're going to be at their dad's, so that complicates things a bit, I guess).

So as I said, I did an hour at the gym tonight... someone was using the recumbent bike when I arrived, so I went straight to the weights, and did the bike half-way through the workout LOL I still didn't get any bicep or wrist stuff done, nor did I play with the stability balls, but the rest of me hurts! I think I'm going to go lie down and read now :)

It's been a long time comin'

...but now it's here.

I'm not sure what "it" is, but whatever it is, I wish it'd go away. Started out a bit rough this morning. Even though I went to bed early last night (by my standards), I didn't get much sleep. Got to work, where I got to sit through a meeting about how crappy the next year is going to be because we're likely to lose a large portion of our budget, etc... so when the meeting was over, I went to our HR lady, and said, "It doesn't look good, does it?" "No, it really doesn't," she said... so that basically means that in about 1 1/2 months, when my current contract ends, I will again be out of work. I will polish off my resume tomorrow and start making the rounds. If anybody knows of anyone looking for an awesome admin assistant, a stats person, a database admin or anything else really...

Dropped the kids off at Jeff's and then went to the gym. I managed 12 1/2 minutes on the recumbent bike before I got a foot cramp and started feeling nauseous. Finished the 3 minute cool-down, so I basically did 2.5 miles in 15 minutes. Then I headed for the weights. I managed the adductor, the abductor, the seated cable pull and the lateral pull-down before I felt so sick I thought I was going to throw up... I think I just overheated (the gym is air conditioned, but it's all west-facing windows, and it was 5pm) so I quit after 35 minutes.

Headed to school, and tried to enter my classroom only to encounter this:

Her sign says "La hausse a bloqué l'accès".

The university's student council had a vote on Friday and the majority chose to strike to protest tuition hikes, so even though I've paid for this semester's course, I'm losing a night (and possibly next week as well, when there are only two more classes before the final exam!). Ugh. I understand and I support the principle, but I don't believe that strikes accomplish anything, and I'm really peeved that I may not pass this class if I can't finish it. I'm sorry guys, I can't be supportive right now, I just have too much on my plate :(

In the plus column, however, I now have a family doctor (the kids are still on a waiting list for a pediatrician). I've got my first appointment with her on April 18, and I'm thrilled! It's been EIGHT YEARS! I think there's a fundamental problem with the way Quebec's ministry of health is run when there's such a shortage of medical personnel (mainly due to language restrictions - all doctors, nurses and other professionals must pass a French exam in order to be licensed to work in Quebec). I won't get into politics here, but it irks me greatly.

The baby cardigan is complete save a few ends to sew in, and the neckband to finish (four rows of garter stitch... I could probably do it before I go to bed). The curtain is moving along. Not quickly, and I've revised my goal of finishing it by Easter. I'll be happy if I have it finished by the time Rob comes back in June :) (a bit more realistic given the fact that I have two papers to write for my class before April 16 and a final exam on that same date).

I am looking forward to rewarding myself with some sock knitting :) I wanted to take a class, but I'm saving up for Stitches Midwest and for the Yarn Harlot's visit to Perth in August! Besides, Stephanie teaches a mean sock class, I'm told, and I'd rather take hers! Here's hoping that a good night's sleep will make everything seem more manageable in the morning.

Blergh.... New Glasses?

Sorry, couldn't help it... I love John Lennon!

I picked up my new glasses this afternoon, and I'm... um... nauseated. There was a full point jump in the prescription for my right eye, and I'm having to re-train myself to focus. I'm okay if I keep to one spot, but the second I look around or have to change my focus, I get dizzy and feel sick.

At one point, I tried switching back to my old glasses (the optometrist suggested switching back & forth until I get used to the new ones), but as soon as I put the old ones back on, I felt like throwing up. So I'm stuck with the vague unease and almost-headache that the new ones are causing instead.

These were supposed to help, right?

Snowballs in summertime ;)

Work has been crazy (last week was somewhat tame, and then BOOM, Monday morning happened and it lasted until Tuesday afternoon). Then I worked three shifts at the store this weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Monday was a bitch... all hell broke loose at my regular job, and nobody seemed to understand that what was being requested was completely unreasonable. I ended up staying until 6:30, then rushed to class.

From the front lobby of the university, I saw what looked like an apartment fire and called 911. Turns out it was a reflection - of a fire in a hydro transformer station (I think that's what Rob called it... "un parc transformateur" is what I know it as in French)... so I may have saved my former employers a crap load of money by alerting the authorities before too much damage could be done. Finally made it to class around 7:30, enjoyed it immensely (our instructor is awesome, and the subject matter is fascinating stuff). Got home, couldn't sleep.... I finally passed out around 1am, only to be awakened by the burning of a thousand suns in the back of my throat an hour later. Oh hai, reflux... you again. I can still actually taste it if I clear my throat or cough. Yipee. I got about 2 hours sleep, all told.

Got up at stupid o'clock to go pick the kids up so I could get to work early and finish the ridiculous task that needed to be finished by 1pm (did I manage? I squeaked it in around 1:05). I felt like a zombie all day, and my throat hurt (residual from the acid burns). I got a bit of knitting done in class last night (it was a light note-taking night... he'd made photocopies of everything, so all I had to do was follow along), but other than that, I haven't touched any of it since last Thursday!

I have this Friday off from the store, and I don't work on Saturday until late in the afternoon, so I'm looking forward to a bit of "me" time.

Ooooh! I knew there was something big I had to mention here! I decided that it was high time I got out of the financial rut I'm in (always broke) since I'm actually making some decent money right now, but I'm terrible with money and can't really be trusted... so I asked Rob to help me. Well, we sat down one night and worked out the plan I'll be following until my employment situation becomes more stable :) It's not so much a budget as a set of rules to follow regarding all my responsibilities and debts and all my sources of income. I am very excited to see how this will work! :) This is HUGE for me... I'm 36 years old, and I've never had any kind of rules or set habits regarding money, other than SPEND IT! SPEND IT NOW!

Well, time to go feed the natives before they get too restless :) I think the rest of the week will be considerably better than the first two days were! And I'm very much looking forward to picking up my knitting in an hour or so. Have a great week!